Loss Prevention Tip
Safe and Effective Practice

Safe and Effective Practice, edited by Barry Vogel, QC and written by Jean Côté and others, is a loss prevention resource that has withstood the test of time. This handbook of loss prevention materials, published by the Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association and based upon materials distributed as early as the mid-1980s, remains relevant to lawyers across Canada even after all these years.

For example, the authors note five “persistent fallacies” that lawyers cling to about legal malpractice:
1. Legal negligence claims are based on a lack of knowledge or poor decision-making;
2. If I do a good job for my client, I won’t be sued;
3. Protecting myself against a client would require that I treat the client as the enemy and therefore I couldn’t properly represent their interests;
4. All legal malpractice claims involve lawyer error and I don’t make mistakes; and
5. I could never forget this matter and therefore don’t need to record all the details.

The authors explore how these beliefs fail to protect lawyers from claims and go on to detail a wide range of simple, yet effective strategies to prevent malpractice claims.

For a copy of Safe and Effective Practice in PDF format, please email JRingrose@lsnl.ca.
(Excerpt from Issue #47, CLIA Loss Prevention Bulletin)